senator harry reid to continue tax breaks for households with incomes below $250,000. the senate bill would also likely contain an extension of expiring unemployment benefits. the fiscal cliff is not the only ticking clock in washington. in a letter to congress treasury secretary tim geithner said the u.s. would hit the $16.4 trillion ceiling on monday. without extraordinary measures geithner announced that the treasury would begin accounting moves that would keep the government from hitting its credit limit for about two months. the treasury secretary warning that it's hard to predict exactly how much time the accounting moves will buy, because ongoing cliff negotiations make it hard for them to forecast revenue and spending for next year. >>> housing prices, some good news. on track to record their first yearly gain since 2006. it's a front page piece in "the wall street journal." it describes what is the strongest performance since the housing bust. the trend could accelerate this rebound we've seen in real estate. reason for the improvement, growing demand, shrinki